Music Maker (label)

Last updated
Music Maker Relief Foundation
Formation1994
Legal statusFoundation
PurposeTo Help The True Pioneers of American Music
Headquarters Hillsborough, NC
LeaderTim Duffy
Website www.musicmaker.org

Music Maker Relief Foundation is an American non-profit, based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded in 1994 by Tim and Denise Duffy to "help the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs. Music Maker presents these musical traditions to the world so American culture will flourish and be preserved for future generations." [1]

Contents

History

Early years

In 1989, while completing his studies for a master's degree in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tim Duffy was documenting blues musician James "Guitar Slim" Stephens for the university's Southern Folklife Collection. [2] Stephens's health was in decline, and shortly before his death, he advised Duffy to locate a musician named Guitar Gabriel.

After his graduation, Duffy began working as a substitute teacher at a middle school in Winston-Salem, hearing an assortment of folkloric tales about Guitar Gabriel from students, until one student volunteered that Gabriel was her neighbor, living in the government housing projects of Winston-Salem. That evening, Duffy followed the student's directions to a "drink house" in the neighborhood, where he met Gabriel's nephew, Hawkeye, who took him to meet Gabriel. Duffy forged a close friendship with Gabriel, and the two began recording and performing under the name Guitar Gabriel & Brothers in the Kitchen, releasing the album Do You Know What it Means to Have a Friend? (also known as Toot Blues) on their own Karibu label in 1991. [3]

Gabriel had been inactive in the music industry since the 1970 release of his album My South, My Blues (as Nyles Jones) on the Gemini label. [4] He had received no royalties [ citation needed ] and was impoverished. He required almost daily assistance from Duffy, who provided transportation to medical appointments, money, and food for Gabriel and his wife. Through Gabriel, Tim and Denise Duffy made field recordings of other local blues musicians, such as Captain Luke, Macavine Hayes, Mr. Q., and Willa Mae Buckner.[ citation needed ] They lived in poor conditions and needed regular assistance.[ citation needed ] Duffy thought their culture was slipping away unnoticed by the music industry.

Tim Duffy's father, Allen Duffy, a lawyer, had represented and won a case for audio pioneer Mark Levinson, allowing him to continue working in the hi-fi industry. [5] Levinson heard about Tim Duffy's field recordings, some reminiscent of the work of John and Alan Lomax, and invited Duffy to visit his stereo showroom in New York. After hearing the recordings, as well as the stories of the many destitute musicians, Levinson offered to remaster the tapes, which became an eight-artist CD anthology of traditional North Carolina blues entitled A Living Past. Levinson became a crusader for the cause, and solicited funds and industry connections from his friends and colleagues, which, in 1994, resulted in the incorporation of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. [6]

1995–present

In 1995, Tim Duffy met Eric Clapton in a Manhattan bistro, sharing some of his field recordings, as well as the philosophy and goals of the foundation, after which Clapton became a supporter, introducing artists such as B.B. King, Pete Townshend, Bonnie Raitt, Ron Wood, Lou Reed and Rosanne Cash, all of whom donated to the Music Maker Relief Foundation. [7] Duffy was invited to the Los Angeles studio where B.B. King's album Deuces Wild was recorded and where he met Taj Mahal, who contributed to the foundation's growth and success.

By 1996, after receiving several sizable donations, Music Maker Relief Foundation had established the Musician Sustenance, Musical Development, and Cultural Access Programs, which provide food, monetary assistance, transportation to doctor's appointments and to pick up medications, home repairs (in some cases, extremely poor living conditions have warranted the relocation of the musician), performance bookings in professional venues, such as the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as European tours and music festivals worldwide. The success of the programs is due, in large part, to Taj Mahal, [8] who by 1997 had become an advisory board member, artistic consultant, contributor, and co-producer for many of the artists' records. Taj Mahal headlined blues festivals in support of Music Maker, was instrumental in securing advertising in mainstream print media, as well as the creation of the "Fishin' Blues Tournament", which raises funds for the foundation. Over the next several years, many new donors and contributors were involved, allowing Duffy to expand the roster of the label, and to release over one hundred albums, the proceeds of which the artists keep, in their entirety. Many of the label's artists have been documented in the collaborative work of artists Harvey Pekar and Gary Dumm, who have contributed artwork since 2003, [9] and whose work was featured in a 2010 calendar, created as a fundraiser for Music Maker Relief Foundation. [10]

In 2006, Tim Duffy saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops performing at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in Silk Hope, North Carolina. [11] Duffy signed a management deal with the group and released their debut record, Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind on the Music Maker Label. During Duffy's time as manager the Carolina Chocolate Drops won a Grammy Award in 2010 for Best Traditional Folk Album with their first album on Nonesuch Records, Genuine Negro Jig . [12] The Chocolate Drops second release with Nonesuch, Leaving Eden was nominated for a Grammy. [12]

In 2014, the Music Maker Relief Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary with an exhibit of 28 photographs of Music Maker artists. The exhibit was previewed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. A double-disc compilation album and 144-page photo book is also set to be released in honor of the foundation's anniversary. [13]

On October 27, 2014 PBS NewsHour aired segment on the Music Maker Relief Foundation, showing William R. Ferris say, "They provide a model for what our nation should be doing. The New Deal under FDR did this for the entire nation, and Tim Duffy thankfully is doing it for the community of blues artists." [14]

Artists

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

See also

Related Research Articles

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Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician and actor. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.

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<i>Dancing the Blues</i> 1993 studio album by Taj Mahal

Dancing the Blues is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, released in 1993.

Robert Lewis Jones, known as both Guitar Gabriel and Nyles Jones, was an American blues musician. Gabriel's unique style of guitar playing, which he referred to as "Toot Blues", combined Piedmont, Chicago, and Texas blues, as well as gospel, and was influenced by artists such as Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis. After hearing of Guitar Gabriel from the late Greensboro, North Carolina blues guitarist and pianist, James "Guitar Slim" Stephens, musician and folklorist Tim Duffy located and befriended Gabriel, who was the inspiration for the creation of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Gabriel wore a trademark white sheepskin hat, which he acquired while traveling and performing with Medicine Shows during his late 20s.

Cootie Stark was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His best remembered recordings were "Metal Bottoms" and "Sandyland." Stark was known as the "King of the Piedmont Blues."

Neal Pattman was an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Sometimes billed as Big Daddy Pattman, he is best known for his self-penned tracks, "Prison Blues" and "Goin' Back To Georgia". In the latter, and most notable stages of his long career, Pattman worked with Cootie Stark, Taj Mahal, Dave Peabody, Jimmy Rip, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Guitar Gabriel, and Lee Konitz.

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<i>Leaving Eden</i> (Carolina Chocolate Drops album) 2012 studio album by Carolina Chocolate Drops

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Tony Braunagel is an American drummer, producer, and songwriter from Houston, Texas, United States, who is based in Los Angeles, California. Braunagel has played on many film scores and television shows as well as numerous albums as a musician, composer and producer. He is best known as a session drummer and/or percussionist of over 200 albums including those of Otis Rush, Eric Burdon, Johnny Nash, Coco Montoya, Lucky Peterson, as well as Grammy winning albums of Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy (percussion) and for performing live with dozens of music icons including Bonnie Raitt, Rickie Lee Jones, BB King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, Bette Midler, Lyle Lovett, and Taj Mahal to name just a few.

Richard Leslie Henry, better known as Big Boy Henry, was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. His most notable recording was "Mr. President", a protest against cuts in social welfare undertaken by President Ronald Reagan. It won Henry a W. C. Handy Award.

Cool John Ferguson is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has released five albums under his own name and played on around twenty others. He is the Director of Creative Development for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, and plays his guitar "upside down".

Lightnin' Wells is an American Piedmont blues multi-instrumentalist and singer. He is a proficient musician and regularly plays various instruments in concert including the guitar, mandolin, harmonica, ukulele and banjo. At times he has performed as a one-man band. His style encompasses elements of the blues, country, gospel, old-time, bluegrass and folk. Mark Coltrain stated in Living Blues that, "You won't find a more versatile musician around – able to move deftly between country blues, old-time banjo, and novelty tunes with a single pluck. Lightnin' Wells changes the past..."

Brice Lee Gates was an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. The cousin of fellow bluesman Albert Collins, Gates released three albums on the Music Maker label. Gates performed for almost sixty years, for the bulk of that time being resident in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Ardie Dean is an American electric blues drummer, audio engineer and record producer. In a varied career over fifty years, Dean has worked with the Giddens Sisters, Alabama Slim, Homesick James, Little Freddie King, Lee Gates, Ernie K-Doe, Bo Diddley, Gregg Allman, Sweet Betty, Guitar Gabriel, Adolphus Bell, Jerry McCain, Macavine Hayes, Beverly Watkins, Lightnin' Wells, Taj Mahal, Cootie Stark, Sam Frazier Jr., Ironing Board Sam, Captain Luke, Cool John Ferguson, and Robert Lee Coleman, among others.

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Dominique Flemons is an American old-time music, Piedmont blues, and neotraditional country multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. He is a proficient player of the banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, percussion, quills, and rhythm bones. He is known as "The American Songster" as his repertoire of music spans nearly a century of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. He has performed with Mike Seeger, Joe Thompson, Martin Simpson, Boo Hanks, Taj Mahal, Old Crow Medicine Show, Guy Davis, and The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.

James Arthur "Boo" Hanks was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer. He was billed as the last of the Piedmont blues musicians.

Carl Rutherford was an American Piedmont blues, country blues, and Appalachian music guitarist, singer and songwriter.

References

  1. ↑ "The Music Maker Mission - Music Maker Relief Foundation". Musicmaker.org. Archived from the original on 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  2. ↑ "Timothy Duffy Collection, 1990-2004". Lib.unc.edu. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  3. ↑ "Guitar Gabriel". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
  4. ↑ "Nyles Jones - My South My Blues (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 1970. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  5. ↑ "Tim Duffy And Music Maker". Bluesart.at. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  6. ↑ from an interview of Tim Duffy on the Americana Music Show #219, published November 10, 2014
  7. ↑ "American Blues-Music Maker Relief Foundation: Music Maker Article". Ibiblio.org. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  8. ↑ "Tim Duffy: Music Maker Relief Foundation". Swampland. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  9. ↑ "Comics - Music Maker Relief Foundation". Music Maker Relief Foundation. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  10. ↑ "Harvey Pekar/Gary Dumm 2010 Calendar in the News - Articles - Music Maker Relief Foundation". Music Maker Relief Foundation. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  11. ↑ Wake Zine. "Feature | Carolina Chocolate Drops". Wakezine.com. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  12. 1 2 Weston, Keith (10 February 2013). "Grammys: Steep Canyon Rangers Win Best Bluegrass Album, Avett Brothers & Chocolate Drops Miss". Wunc.org. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  13. ↑ Mazor, Barry (6 August 2014). "Giving Them a Hand The Music Maker Foundation Celebrates 20 Years". The New York Times . Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  14. ↑ Brown, Jeffrey (27 October 2014). "Music Maker eases the blues for down-and-out artists". Pbs.org. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Music Maker Relief - CDs and Vinyl". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2017-05-27.

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